When the game of golf is played, the golf club heads quickly become soiled through contact with dirt, mud, grass, and the like. The lines or grooves in the hitting surface of the head of the golf club are quickly and easily clogged with dirt or grass, which can have an undesirable effect when a ball is hit. In addition, some of the foreign matter which adheres to the various surfaces of the golf club head can cause corrosion or pitting of the head which further impairs its accuracy and appearance. Chemicals frequently are used for fertilizing the grass of a golf course, and some of these chemicals are highly corrosive, particularly when they are damp.
Golf club heads typically are cleaned at home or in the clubhouse using a bucket or sink full of water and a hand brush for scrubbing the golf club heads placed in the bucket or sink. This is a messy and time consuming process. It also is desirable to maintain the golf club heads clean during the playing of a game of golf. Consequently, golfers frequently carry cleaning rags or sponges for wiping off and cleaning the golf club heads after each use. While such frequent cleaning may be effected in this manner, it is necessary to carry around a damp sponge or rag in order to accomplish this purpose.
Efforts have been made to provide golf club cleaning devices or golf club washers which do not require a damp rag or a bucket of water and a hand held brush back at the clubhouse or at home.
Two patents which are directed to golf club head washing devices capable of location at various positions on a golf course, as well as at the clubhouse, are the Patents to Chambless U.S. Pat. No. 2,744,276 and Caradonna U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,839. The washer of Caradonna comprises a rectangular housing which is mounted on top of a post. The housing is partially filled with a cleaning solution, and two opposed brushes are held in place by a cover which has a pair of projections extending down to press against the top of the brushes to hold them in place against a seat built into the housing. Conventional wood block scrubbing brushes are used for the brush elements. The golf club head is cleaned by an up and down reciprocating motion after it is inserted through a slot in the cover to a position between the brushes. Since the brushes have a tendency to float upwardly when they are not held in place by the cover, replacement is somewhat difficult and messy, unless the liquid first is drained from the container.
The cleaner disclosed in the Chambless Patent is similar in some respects to the one of Caradonna, but Chambless has two different openings in it with two different brush sets for cleaning irons with one set and woods with the other. The brushes themselves are attached to a metal carrier rack which fits inside the container. Conventional wood block brushes are employed and they are each separately attached to the metal carrier by means of screws through their backs at various locations. When the brushes are worn out, the entire carrier rack and brush assembly is intended to be lifted out of the cleaner and replaced by a new carrier rack and set of brushes.
Three other patents directed to golf club head cleaning devices, which are more complex than the ones disclosed in the Chambless and Caradonna Patents, are the Patents to Postula U.S. Pat. No. 3,268,934; Hoag U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,534; and Hartz U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,536. The devices of Postula and Hoag both disclose rotary brush heads for cleaning the golf club. In Postula, a separate hand crank is provided, so that a person desiring to wash a club must hold the club with one hand and turn the crank with the other. In the device of Hoag, a separate electric motor is used to operate the cleaning brushes. Consequently, the Hoag device is not suitable for location at various places on a golf course, but is primarily suitable for use only at the club house.
The device of Hartz includes sponge like roll brushes mounted in the lid of a container, with the bottom portion of a rectangularly shaped box being lined with brush like material; so that the cleaning of a club is effected by reciprocal motion of the club between the cylindrical brushes in the lid and by turning it or reciprocating it against the surfaces within the bottom of the container. Replacement of the brushes is relatively time consuming, particularly for the brushes which are located within the liquid in the bottom portion of the container.
The Patent to Nicholson U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,416 discloses a somewhat different approach for washing the faces of a golf club. The golfer places the club in an opening in the top of the cleaning container. A separate handle then is grasped to move a reciprocating brush up and down across the face of the golf club head to clean it. A pair of opposing brushes also are located on opposite sides of a slot of the member moved by the reciprocating handle, so that golf balls also can be cleaned in the device.
It is desireable to provide a golf club head cleaning device which overcomes the disadvantages of the golf club head washers of the prior art, which is simple to use, simple and inexpensive to construct, and in which the cleaning elements easily and readily may be replaced.